Feb. 14, 2013

Jose Castañeda / The Salinas Californian

Written by

Under the Dome

Jose Castañeda Watch: Day 58

Wednesday marked the 58th day that new Salinas City Councilman and Alisal Union School District board member Jose Castañeda continued to hold both seats in an apparent violation of state law.

Just when you think things about this case couldn’t get any sillier, details from a Salinas Police Report on Castañeda’s alleged Dec. 18 encounter with KSBW reporter Tom Miller were leaked to The Dome on Wednesday.

By the way, in case you were wondering, the alleged charge against Mr. Miller, according to the report, is a violation of 647(c) of the state penal code — which, put in plain English, is a misdemeanor involving the blocking of the path of an individual while on a public sidewalk.

Castañeda called the SPD and asked for an officer to meet with him about the allegation sometime earlier this month. Although Castañeda missed the appointment by 30 minutes, he spent quite a while “re-enacting” the horrible offense on his neighbor’s driveway.

In the report, Castañeda also shared with the officer the contents of some text messages between Miller and Castañeda:

Miller: “Well, we’re both on regular working hours today. Ready to talk like you said?"

Castañeda: “I’m off today.”

Miller: “Want to do it anyway?”

Castañeda: “Mr. Miller, I believe you have a problem understanding ... I’m going to file a complaint against you when I return back … Let this be your last and final text (and) call to me. Do not come near me, my family, my property nor my place of work. You have now been advised respectfully by me accordingly to all laws governing the state of California.”

The diligent police officer who wrote the report, whose name was not available, says that after watching Castañeda dance around his neighbor’s driveway, he then returned to the scene of the “crime” at the Rotunda Building at City Hall.

Can’t you just hear the theme from “Dragnet” in the background?

“I physically walked from the front doors of the Rotunda out onto the sidewalk and then north towards West Gabilan Street. I counted 41 paces or about 120 feet. The sidewalk where the incident took place is a minimum of four feet wide and up to eight feet wide in some spots.”

(Page 2 of 3)

The really interesting aspect of this investigation came when the officer reviewed a video clip of the incident. Here was his conclusion:

“...During the short video shown on KSBW’s website, I was unable to observe a time when Miller blocked Castañeda’s free, unobstructed access. ...I also did not hear the dialog Castañeda described he had with Miller. The video did not depict Castañeda warning Miller about blocking the sidewalk, nor did it show Miller standing in front of Castañeda ….”

If I haven’t said it before, let me say it now: Tom Miller is my hero. His bosses at KSBW need to give the young man a raise and a big one at that.

The Castañeda matter has now transitioned fully into the theater of the absurd.

It would be really funny if real money wasn’t being spent on this investigation. It would be just a knee-slapper if it wasn’t becoming the distraction that is drowning out everything else at City Hall.

But real money is being spent and City Hall is increasingly being locked up by all of the intrigue — and that’s too bad.

Doin' the bureaucratic rag

So just when you thought we were done with all things Castañeda, there’s more!

Readers of The Californian who took the initiative to write Attorney General Kamala Harris about the case recently received letters back from a representative of the state’s chief law enforcement officer on the case.

Salinans Nancy Iversen and Jenni Watkins received identical responses from Supervising Deputy Attorney General Susan Duncan Lee out of the AG’s San Francisco office.

“...We have heard from a number of citizens in Salinas complaining that Mr. Castañeda is improperly holding the office of Alisal School Board member simultaneously with the office Salinas City Council member. If this is true, and if the two offices are legally incompatible, then Mr. Castañeda would be deemed to have forfeited his seat on the school district when (he) assumed office as a city council member. This is a serious matter.”

(Page 3 of 3)

Thanks, Susan, we already knew that much.

On one hand, it’s great that someone in the AG’s office has officially and publicly acknowledged the issue and that it is on their radar. But Lee’s letters are also monuments to bureaucracy in that while they refer the letter writer to some good online information about the quo warranto process, they fail to provide any kind of link or instructions on who at the state DOJ should be asked — specifically — to invoke the request against Castañeda.

The other cool thing about our readers sharing their letters is that I now have Susan Lee’s email.

This is great because when I attempted to go through the Attorney General’s press office a few weeks ago, I was blown off and largely disregarded. Now I have the chance to be disregarded by someone at the DOJ much higher up the food chain!

If Ms. Lee deems me worthy of a response, I will keep you all posted.

Jeff Mitchell covers Salinas City Hall and local politics. Send tips or story ideas by email to: jemitchell@theCalifornian.com; or by phone: 831-754-4281. He can be heard live on the air Fridays at 8:10 a.m. on KION 1460-AM and KION 101.1-FM. You also can follow Under the Dome on Twitter at twitter.com/CalUnderTheDome